Wednesday, 16 October 2024

 Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (09:50): I move, by leave:

That this house:

(1)   notes that since the Legislative Council’s resolution on 17 October concerning Israel and Gaza, which stated that this house ‘stands with Israel’, the following have occurred:

(a) Israel has killed or injured 130,000 Palestinians in Gaza and at least 10,000 Palestinians are missing;

(b) Israel has been conducting a bombardment in northern Gaza over the past 11 days that is killing children, aid workers, journalists and entire refugee camps;

(c) Israel attacked the al-Aqsa hospital complex, which set fire to a refugee tent camp, and one survivor described the scene: ‘The fire trucks couldn’t get here. There were so many burned and charred bodies all over the place. The amount of fire and explosions was enormous. We witnessed one of the most horrible and brutal nights’;

(d) a joint statement by 38 humanitarian groups describes that northern Gaza is being wiped off the map and that Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City; and

(e) Israel continues to attack south and north Lebanon, with over a quarter of Lebanon under evacuation orders – 1.2 million people displaced, including 400,000 children;

(f) does not support the state of Israel’s continued invasion of Gaza;

(2)   supports calls for immediate and permanent ceasefire; and

(3)   calls on the Victorian government to advocate to the Australian government that it ends its support for the state of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

Leave refused.